This invention relates generally to field of data representations and, in particular, the field of editing representations of data.
It is known to provide editing capabilities for graphical representations of data. For example, it is known to permit a user to click and drag a bar on a bar chart in order to increase or decrease the length of the bar as it is displayed on a graphical representation, in order to indicate changes in the value represented by the bar. It is also known to permit a user to enter a functional relationship between variables represented on a bar chart. Users can also alter one bar of the bar chart, and have another bar recalculated and redisplayed according to the functional relationship and the alteration. Examples of editing capabilities provided for graphical representations of this type include Moowinx. Another example of such editing capabilities is Fusion Charts provided by InfoSoft Global. Additionally, useful data visualization solutions are provided by Visual Studio, Silverlight, WPF and SoftwareFX. Editing of radar charts is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,268,782. Furthermore, many CAD/CAM programs allow users to graphically edit designs.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,369,127 issued to Hull discloses dynamic control of graphical representations of data. In the Hull system a user can select parts of a graphical display, such as tick marks, offset bars, scale values, combination bars, or an entire graphical representation itself. The selected parts of the graphical representations can be unsealed, repositioned and resealed. Furthermore, the repositioning process can be performed with or without resealing of the underlying data. Multiple series of data can be viewed, moved and resealed in order to determine trends in the data and relationships between or among series of data.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,844,572 issued to Schott discloses a method and system for altering data by manipulation of representational graphs. In the method and system disclosed by Schott a user can directly manipulate the shapes of graphical representations. The manipulations can alter the corresponding underlying data as well as the graphical representations. Furthermore, the user of the Schott method and system can manipulate the relationships between associated data and receive recalculated graphical representations. Additionally, various data representation elements within the graphical representation can be focused and unfocused. The focused data representation elements can be reconfigured using scaling factors, while the unfocused data representation elements can remain in a constant configuration. Data representation elements can be focused and unfocused by the user or automatically by the system.
However, the foregoing prior art does not permit users to place specific constraints on how recalculated portions of graphical representations can change in response to alterations of other portions of the graphical representation.